Intertwined Lives
by MsHGolightly
Summary: AU - The story is set during the WWII, Mark is a physiscian in the USAAF while Lexie is British and comes from noble but decayed stock. In 2015, after Lexie's death, Peggy, their grandaughter, will find and read all her grandmother's diaries and will explore the story of their love and their family and friends. Mer/Der, Mark/Lexie and a surprise in the new chapter!
1. Prologue

Hello! :)

I have been thinking about that story for months now. After I have changed my mind a lot of times I have finally decided to publish it.

It could be considered a sort of crossover with Captain America universe, only for what concerns the characters of Peggy and Steve ( but there will be not involved supernatural powers nor S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents).

It has been influenced by "The House of the Spirit" too.

The story will explore the love of Mark and Lexie and their family and friends from 1942 until now. There will be almost all characters from GA ( such as Meredith and Derek, Addison, April, Jackson, Callie, Arizona and so on), but they will be a little different in order to be suitable for this alternative universe. Sorry for some possible historical mistakes!

Enjoy the story, review and remember always that English is my second language!

If you want to watch some pictures which have inspired the story, please click the link below, it will address you to my LJ profile. ( . )

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><p><em>Sloan Mansion<em>, Southampton, New York, January 22, 2015.

Every conception and every birth are fortuitous. Two people meet, perhaps they fall in love – but it is not a necessary condition-, they sleep together – and it really _is_ a necessary condition- and nine months later there will be a child. It is the circle of life. And you know, life does not care about your plans or your expectations. If life decides you must be a parent, then you will be one. Screw the consequences and thank you very much!

Despite that, Peggy has always considered her life ( and the lives of her dad, her aunts, her brother and all her cousins too) as an event which is strangely accidental, the result of the odd union between two people who met in the most unlike way ever. Obviously, she is very grateful to her grandparents for their love and for the consequential birth of her father, since without them she'd never been born in the first place.

When she was younger, Peggy didn't think a lot about all the circumstances of her life and her family. Now, she is almost in her thirties and she feels very involved in this topic, maybe because it is the time of evaluation.

She can't help but thinking that when her grandmother was her age, she was a fulfilled woman with a career, a husband and several children. Peggy really loves her nan. Lexie has been the most important person in her life, since her own mother's death.

Daphne was thirty-one years old when she died in a plane crash and Peggy was only a toddler at that time. So, from this age to the adulthood she and Chris, her brother, were raised by her feisty and loving grandmother.

Their father, James, is still alive but he has always been around the world for his strange adventures and discoveries. It is not that he doesn't love his children or doesn't care, because he does. Simply, he is an introvert by nature. Always shy and bashful, he prefers his books and researches to real people and after Daphne's death, things only got worst.

Anyway, Peggy really loves him and doesn't complain anything; she has lived the most interesting experiences of her life with him.

But Lexie and Mark, her grandfather, were all another story. They gave them a real home and all the love of a real family.

Only now, she can actually understand all that her grandmother had fought through her life. She managed everything, in the best way possible. If life was nothing than chance, Lexie was able to accept the dare and win.

And now she is gone. Just like Daphne and Mark, Lexie is dead too.

Peggy is in their grandparents' mansion in Southampton, in what has been her grandmother's bedroom since her arrival to United States, seventy year earlier.

That room _is_ Lexie, she can feels her soul and her nature everywhere.

In the hardwood floor covered with fluffy carpets, in the four large windows that give the room a lot of natural light and in the big and comfy wrought iron bed. Everything is bright and cozy.

There is an old and romantic fireplace too, its mantel full of pictures. They represent the story of her family, and for Lexie, family has been the most important thing in her life.

However, the thing that Peggy has always loved most about her grandmother's bedroom, is her vanity table. She used to sit on the bed and watch Lexie getting ready for work or for the social events that she had to attend because of her rank. She had her beauty ritual and Peggy was fascinated by that.

Lexie didn't use to apply a lot of makeup and she never wore fleshy jewelry, though she could afford it.

She always wore only her engagement and wedding rings, her pearl necklace and earrings. Usually, after she got dressed, she used to sit at her vanity table and brush her long, wavy and dark hair for a long time. Then, she proceeded with her makeup, which basically consisted in a little of mascara, a shred of lipstick and some blush. In the end, two sprays of her rose-scented perfume completed the job. Sometimes, she would apply some blush on Peggy's chubby cheeks, laughing at her amazed and spellbound expression.

Peggy must admit that her grandmother has been her principal source of inspiration for what concerns fashion and beauty. Perhaps, that is the reason she still has vintage and classic style and manners.

She is sitting at the vanity table, poking at an elegant mulberry wood box, containing all her grandmother's diaries, that, now, belongs to her.

According to Lexie's will, all funds, stocks, properties and jewelry – located in both US and UK- have been divided equally among all her children and grandchildren; but Peggy would have kept her pearl necklace and all her journals, beside all furniture of her bedroom.

On the top of the box there is a letter addressed to Peggy, written by Lexie just before her death.

She opens the envelope and emits a soft sigh, recognizing the rounded and neat handwriting of her grandmother.

"_Dear Margaret,_

_My beloved and precious girl, if you are reading this letter, then I am gone. _

_Do not be sad about that, I have had the chance to live a long and satisfying existence filled with love and happiness. _

_I want to tell you some things. I am now an old and boring lady and perhaps this letter will be full of cliched and corny concepts; please, forgive me for that. _

_You have been so much more than a grandchild to me, I have loved you so much and this love will always be with you. Do not forget that._

_Enjoy your life, every single moment of it and make a lot of happy memories, they will be forever with you and will become your only hope when you are old and wrinkled as me. Life is too rich and too brief to sit idle, so live a hundred times._

_Live with no regrets and do not be afraid of breaking bounds or leaving the safe and known path; I did it when I was young and that allowed me to have the life I have always wanted. Be what you want to be, without fears and worries but do not forget to use your head. And let me tell you, you do have a great head! You are so smart and clever._

_Love. Apparently, love has always been a blessing and a curse for our family._

_We are able to love with all ourselves and it may be a danger, sometimes. Remember your great-grandmother Susan and your great-aunts Meredith and Molly. Your grandfather and me. Your aunts Alice, Charlotte and Gwendolyn. Your dad and mom. We all are the proof that storybook love does exist and happen in the real life too. You just have to hold out for it and you will find your love one day. Do not settle and do not stop looking for it; find someone you are compatible with to love forever. However, do not be obsessed by this research, one day true love will arrive because everybody is meant to be together with someone else. _

_Be brave, you already are. Do not let prejudices and gossip hurt you and do not care what people think. Life is really short, when you put it in perspective. I knew that, your mom knew that. Daphne lived without fear and was a wonderful woman. Smart, kind, cheerful and gorgeous. Your mother shined. Literally. Like you._

_Thus, do not limit yourself. You have always been too strict with yourself. Be free, laugh and make some mistakes. Only if you are ready to risk, you will be able to live. _

_Travel and explore the world. You have already visited so many countries, known so many different cultures and met so many amazing people, but do not stop. Be hungry as you have always been._

_Build and preserve boundaries, with your friends and with your relatives. I have been so proud of you and your brother. You are bonded in the deepest way possible. He will always be here, for you. As your father. You know he loves you and he will do anything for your happiness. I am afraid James is too British and introvert to show all his feelings. Forgive me for that, I guess this aspect of his personality comes from the Grey genes. _

_When you are ready, build your own family. Being a parent is the most difficult but rewarding experience you will ever live! And I am sure you will be a great mom. _

_As you already know, there will be some moments full of grief and sorrow. Life is not only about good feelings. But however bad it may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at. While there is life, there is hope._

_You are amazing and strong and have the whole world in your hands. Use it!_

_I have filled too many pages with a lot of words and I was going to forget the most important thing._

_Now, I am in my nineties and I should be wise and practical, so let me give you my last advice: life is all about feelings and emotions. So, if there is one thing that should always be remembered, it is how to feel._

_Be safe, be brilliant._

_I love you,_

_Your nan._

_P.S. I have left the box full of my journals to you. I have written them for seventy years in order to see things in their true dimension and to defy my own poor memory. Memory is fragile and the space of a single life is brief, passing so quickly that we never get a chance to see the relationship between events; we cannot gauge the consequences of our acts, and we believe in the fiction of past, present, and future, but it may also be true that everything happens simultaneously*... I hope you will be able to understand that and, above all, to find yourself when you will get lost. _

_Family is our past, present and future. Do not forget that._"

Peggy doesn't know when exactly she has started to cry but her cheeks are wet and damp. She sighed before opening the box with trembling hands. Inside there are almost one hundred colored and thick notebook, filled with her grandmother's memories. Lexie used to store in them some pictures, drawings and small objects too.

Peggy takes a red diary, maybe the first one according to the date written on a yellowed tag on the cover: 1942/1943.

She almost feels bad, it seems she is intruding in Lexie's private life, her feelings, her dreams, her fears.

But she remembers what she has just read: " _I hope you will be able to understand that and, above all, to find yourself when you will get lost_."

And in that moment she is completely lost.

She opens the journal and begins to read.

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><p>*The sentence is a quote from "The House of the Spirit".<p> 


	2. Chapter 1

_Rotherfield Greys, _South Oxfordshire, December 17th , 1942

_I am so excited! On Friday evening, Molly and I will arrive to Oxford, in order to spend the weekend with Meredith and her family. I adore the atmosphere of her house, everything is very interesting and inspiring. Derek has always motivated me, giving me the most useful advice. I hope he will be able to bring us to the University for a tour, it would be a dream..._

Meredith Shepherd née Grey was an artist.

She was a painter and a sculptor and she was very good, too. She was born in England but raised in New York, after her parents' divorce. Meredith moved to the States with her mother Ellis who had never come back to England. However, she wasn't the family type, at all. Her mother was a career woman, one of the first physicians in Great Britain, and her job expectations had been one of the main causes of her divorce. Tatcher was a simple and traditional man and for him women did not work if it wasn't necessary. He was an Earl too. For all those reasons, working seemed so petty and plebby. Nobles did not have to make money to live wealthy. Meredith was conscious that her family wasn't typical. After their departure to United States, Tatcher remarried with a kind and devoted woman, Susan, who gave him two daughters: Alexandra and Molly. Nevertheless, Meredith was never able to know them in person, until two years earlier.

Then, after Ellis death, she was able to arrange an exhibit of her works in Europe and the first leg would have been Oxford. She left New York with her husband, Derek Shepherd, and they arrived to England in a sunny Spring morning.

If Meredith had been anxious and nervous by the chance of meeting her family, Derek had been very excited. He was grown-up in a large family, the oldest of five children, and his parents had always cared about him and his sisters.

In any case, everything went in the best possible way. Alexandra was eager to meet her and her sparkling and cheerful behavior had seduced Meredith and she discovered the joys of sisterhood. Molly was very funny and sweet too, though she was too young to bond with Meredith.

Because of the war, Meredith and Derek decided to stay in England, with her newly discovered family, and after some months she found out of being pregnant.

Derek was a physician too, and he had the opportunity of becoming professor at the prestigious University of Oxford.

On the other hand, after the birth of their first son, Derek Bailey, Meredith decided to accept a job as art teacher at the Spence Academy for Young Ladies. It allowed her to keep cultivating her interest in art and to be a mother and wife.

It was a quiet and peaceful fall evening when the letter arrived. Meredith and Bailey were in the sitting room and the fire was crackling in the fireplace. She was drawing some sketches of his little boy, her favorite subject since his birth, crawling on the carpet and playing with his wood toys.

Derek entered into the room and he waved a letter in his right hand, widely grinning : "You will never imagine who is here, now!"

Meredith looked up at him with a quizzical expression on her face and then asked: "Who?"

Derek sat beside her on the sofa before speaking: "Mark is here! He's at the Welford base and he wrote me he'd be able to come and visit us tomorrow. He can stay for the whole weekend!"

Meredith smiled, visibly surprised. Mark Sloan and Derek Shepherd had known each other since the first grade and they had practically grown up together. They had even graduated together at Columbia University.

Because of the war, traveling from and to Europe was difficult and dangerous. Thus Mark and Derek had not seen each other for almost two years. Meredith knew how much her husband missed his best friend, she suspected Derek missed him more than his own family.

"Derek, that's awesome! So he has been sent here, hasn't he?" she asked.

"Actually, he chose to come to Europe instead of the Pacific frontline. Finally, he will be able to meet Bailey! Mark is so amazed by the idea of being a godfather, after all." Derek exclaimed and he was excited as a child on Christmas Day.

"Lexie and Molly will arrive on Friday, too. It will be a crowded weekend." Stated Meredith. She was a little worried about the organization but she couldn't be happier for bringing back together all the people she loved.

...

_Rotherfield Greys, _South Oxfordshire, December 18th , 1942

_This afternoon I lived one of the strangest and most unexpected experiences of my whole life. I was wandering with Athena, when..._

Winter seemed to arrive suddenly that year.

The afternoon was crisp and cool and Alexadra's breath sparkled in the cold air.

She was wandering around the fields which surrounded Greys Court with Athena, her red English Cocker Spaniel, when she heard the noticeable buzz of an aircraft, getting closer and losing altitude.

She watched how it was flying in circle for a while, trying to land safely in a hopeless attempt.

"Athena!" she cried in order to call for her panic-stricken dog, who was barking and running away.

She widened her big brown eyes as the aircraft twisted and crashed, before keeling over.

Without thinking, Alexandra ran across the field in order to help the crew members... if they were still alive after the terrible crash.

The fuselage was emitting smoke and a man was crawling out the aircraft, trailing another one out the cockpit, when suddenly a line of fire flashed along the right wing.

"How are you?" she shouted, forgetting all the good manners her grandmother had thought her since her birth.

"Get out of here! You could blow up!" exclaimed a voice behind a leather flying helmet and a pair of aviator goggles. Alexandra was pretty sure he was American, according to his accent.

He stood up and, grabbing her arm, pushed her away.

"You need some help. May I help you?" suggested Alexandra, even if he kept ignoring her. The man was knelt beside his fellow, who was whimpering, analyzing his injuries.

The young woman squatted down too and explained: "I am a nurse. Well, actually I am still studying to become one, but I guess I can-"

"_For God's Sake!_ Are you deaf? You have heard, haven't you? It is too dangerous for you being here!" he yelled "Thank you, for your offer, but we can reach the Welford base by ourselves."

Alexandra frowned and, after a deep breath, replied bluntly: " I guess, you can't. There is no way you will be able to walk nearly 25 miles through British countryside with an injured man."

He gazed at his fellow, who was lying unconscious on the floor.

The man removed his goggles and Alexandra's bother loosened; he was extremely handsome, probably the most handsome guy she had ever met. He had a scruffy facial hair, chiseled features and the most piercing blue eyes. He stared at Alexandra and she felt completely dazed, barely remembering how much insolent and rude he had been.

The man sighed heavily before adding: "Where are now, exactly?"

"Rotherfield Greys, in the South Oxfordshire." Alexandra replied promptly.

"That is a little unexpected. However, we were able to give our waypoints to the base, before the crash. An ambulance is going to arrive at every moment." he explained. Then he stretched his right hand out to Alexandra, smiling cockily: "I am sorry for my rudeness, Miss-?" .

"Miss Alexandra Grey, nice to meet you. And you?" She asked, shaking his hand.

"Captain Mark Sloan, pilot and physician enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force. It is a pleasure meeting you."

"M-Mark-" his fellow whined and the softness in his voice astonished Alexandra.

Mark helped him to remove his helmet and to show his face.

Alexandra couldn't help but widening her eyes: his fellow was actually a... _woman_.

"I think I broke my leg, where are we?" She asked, trying to sit up.

"Not very far from Welford, an ambulance is coming here. Your emergency landing has been our salvation!" explained Mark, while Alexandra was still too shocked to speak. A woman was the pilot of the aircraft, it was rather unbelievable.

"Miss Grey, let me introduce you Major Arizona Robbins, one of the most talented pilots of the American Air Force. Without her, probably I'd not be here now."

The wounded pilot smiled politely at Alexandra and she had a sweet face. Her eyes were bright and friendly as well as her expression. She looked like a kind woman and Alexandra was very surprised she was a soldier.

"Well, I can not deny my surprise. Seeing a woman pilot is not something so usual here." Alexandra said in a whisper.

Arizona laughed slightly: "_Trust me_, neither in U.S. Anyway, are you alright?"

Alexandra smiled at her affirmation: "I am fine, thank you. I have lost my dog, though. She was scared and run away."

Mark stated without hesitation: " Let me help you. It's the least I can do, after yelling at you."

"Thank you. And do not worry, it was an emergency situation." Alexandra reassured him, before calling for Athena. "Athena! Where are you?"

They heard yelping and whining and both Mark and Alexandra run behind a shrub.

There, Athena was whimpering because of a splinter of iron stuck in her paw.

"I am afraid she needs a vet." stated Mark, picking up the dog in his arms.

Alexandra petted her on the head, whispering sweet words.

In that moment, the familiar and unmistakable noise of the siren echoed in the air, getting closer and closer. The ambulance was coming.

Mark gently passed the dog to Alexandra, saying: "Meeting in different circumstances would have been better, but I am really delighted to have made your acquiescence."

Alexandra blushed, smiling shyly.

…

**I hope this chapter has met your expectations. You have met some of the main characters: Lexie and Mark of course, and Arizona, Meredith and Derek too. In the next chapters everything will become more and more interesting.**

**Please read and review. Since this story is very unusual, I would love to read your opinion.**

**As always, forgive me for my possible linguistic and historical mistakes.**

PS: In my profile, you can find my LiveJournal contact, where there are some pictures which inspired this story.


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